Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Drunken Off-Duty Cop Runs From Crash

PELHAM, NEW YORK — A drunken off-duty New Rochelle police officer ran away after an early morning collision Tuesday on the Hutchinson River Parkway, Westchester County police said. Officer Jamillah Blair, 30, a two-year member of the department, was suspended with pay after her arrest, New Rochelle Police Commissioner Patrick Carroll said. The 2004 Cadillac sport utility vehicle that Blair was driving was stopped and facing the wrong way on the parkway in Pelham when it was struck head-on by a Yonkers man's northbound 2010 Chevrolet sedan, police said. Blair ran off after the 3:13 a.m. crash, said county police spokesman Kieran O'Leary. The accident happened moments after another driver swerved to avoid the stopped Cadillac, police said. County police said they contacted the Cadillac's owner and determined that Blair, a relative, had been driving it. She was arrested in New Rochelle about an hour after the incident and charged with two misdemeanors: leaving the scene of an accident and driving while intoxicated. The driver of the Chevy, 45, was taken to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx with chest pains that were not considered life threatening. Blair was released without bail and is due in Pelham Town Court on March 11. Carroll said the incident could become a basis for dismissal, after a departmental hearing when the criminal charges have been decided. Blair is assigned to the patrol division of the 180-member force. Blair is the sixth off-duty law enforcement officer from Westchester — four cops and two corrections officers — accused of drunken driving since December. All but one of the others involved a crash.

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The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. honors the federal, state and local men and women of law enforcement. It is important to remember that the vast majority of our country's law enforcement officers also fight against lawlessness and corruption.